News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

NGO moves SC against RTE verdict

Social Jurist, an NGO, has approached the Supreme Court to
challenge the Delhi High Court verdict, which had held that the Right to
Education (RTE) Act was not applicable to nursery admission in unaided
private schools.

In its appeal, Social Jurist claimed the high court had erred in
holding that the Act applied only to admissions of children between the
ages of 6 and 14. The NGO had been the petitioner in the case before the
high court.
In its petition before the apex court, the NGO stated that the HC was
not correct in declaring that Section 13 of the Act was formulated in
context of rampant screening practices adopted by private unaided
schools in nursery admissions. “It was to correct this mischief that the
said provision was incorporated,” the appeal states.
The HC had on February 19 dismissed its petition which challenged the
points-system followed by schools in nursery admissions. The high court
bench headed by the Chief Justice had, however, asked the Centre to
consider amending the Act to include nursery education and said that the
schools cannot be allowed to run as ‘teaching shops’ as it would be
‘detrimental to equal opportunity to children’.
“Though we have held that the RTE Act is not applicable to nursery
schools, in our opinion there cannot be any different yardstick to be
adopted for education to children up to the age of 14 years irrespective
of the fact that it applies to only elementary education,” the court
had noted in its verdict.